lindsayraeann

I'm not sure about the very first idiom I learned, because I think they've always been a part of my life! However, in 5th grade I remember we did a work sheet on idioms and the only one standing out to me right now is trying to "find a needle in a haystack." I can so clearly see myself sitting with my friends at a big round table, trying to put into words what these idioms meant. It was like we knew what they meant, but couldn't verbalize it. Still struggle verbalizing some to this day!

How do you keep all the tenses straight in your head? I know we learned probably 13-14 different tenses in my Spanish classes in high school, but I can't even remember half of them now, only the most prominent ones! Some of them even while we were learning them I couldn't fully understand, because I felt there wasn't a related tense in the English language. Any tips on how to memorize and actually learn all of the tenses of the Spanish language? Or any language, for that matter!

I would love to learn French! I think it is such a beautiful, romantic language. I'm sure there are plenty of beautiful languages out there (heck, they all are!) but French is a language I have always wanted to learn! I'd also like to learn German, because my friend speaks German and it would be so cool to converse with her in German!

As for most, I think, speaking and listening are hardest for me. Since I'm not quite fluent in a second language yet, most native speakers speak more quickly than my ears can keep up with! I'm a visual learner, and speaking requires me to visualize in my head, which is not something I've perfected yet. Try speaking to me in Spanish and you'll see me with my eyes rolled up trying to see what's going on inside my brain! I find writing to be the easiest, but probably because I make many many mistakes without realizing it. Reading is easier for me, but not quite as easy as writing, sometimes I take the words too literally and they don't make sense to me. I tend to translate directly.

I started taking Spanish classes in 7th grade, then took 8th grade off and restarted in 9th grade. Only two years were mandatory, but I chose to continue through graduation! My goal is to continue with Spanish language classes in university next semester, but I'm not sure yet if it will work with my schedule. I am interested in minoring in Spanish, because I want to go into nursing and I think that being fluent in Spanish (particularly in CA) will be very helpful!